


Expectations

by Evilyoyo



Series: Daemon AUs [2]
Category: Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, F/F, No Plot/Plotless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 04:02:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12290808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evilyoyo/pseuds/Evilyoyo
Summary: Just little things set in an Daemon AU because why not





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love AUs and my favorites are, Soulmate, A/B/O, and daemon. But I can't write sex and their already soulmates so daemon it is

For a long time there were few people alive that knew what Xena’s daemon Nilos looked like.  
When most of their age had settled Nilos still changed constantly; from a large dog , a favorite for weeks, to a small cat, that had only  
lasted half a day. 

Having a female daemon was rare for a woman and when Nilos refused year after year to settle, her mother had worried about them. Cyrene had told her once that the only thing that would make her happier than her daemon finally settling was if Xena managed to find a husband as well. 

But her mother wouldn't know what form her daemon took for over ten years afterward. 

It happened had four months after her brother had died and while she still missed him she had began healing. She had even started to enjoy leading the men who followed after her. The day she settled they had stolen a ship and had been out on the water learning how to sail it when they had been attacked by pirates. 

Nilos had been the form of a large black wolf, a favorite for weeks now, but changed mid fight to a large falcon they had seen in a cage at the docks. Xena had approved of her sharp beak and sharper talons as Nilos dipped and ducked around her. 

It was the first fight they had really enjoyed, no worries over their village or guilt over hurting villagers, just fighting to win. 

Later after the battle had stop Xena took stock of Nilos’s form. There were advantages to having a bird daemon she knew. They could travel farther from their people then other daemons making their great scouts and that much harder for enemies to target them. 

Her men had cheered for her after they realized that her daemon had finally settled but all Nilos wished was to least visit home, their mother would want to know no matter what she said in her grief she told again and again to an ever annoyed Xena. 

Less than a month later her men were crucified and Nilos stopped speaking to her all together.


	2. Chapter 2

Gabrielle was only six when Cadmus settled so she could just barely remember a time when he wasn't his form. He had liked smell shapes before he settled she recalled, he scared their mother quite a bit when he changed into a rat and ran across the table without tell her it was him. 

Setting so young was usually seen as a good thing, a sign that a person's hearts were true. Her parents, and Poteidaia as a whole, however seen Cadmus settled form as a mistake. Something must have gone wrong or…. something is wrong with her the rumors went. 

Herodotus and Hecuba began to worry then about their daughter. Yes she was smart and yes she kind but no man wanted their sons to marry a girl which such a…. wrong daemon. Hecuba was the one that pressed the idea that her daughter should know how to read and write, she would need as many skills as possible to get a husband and it was something Gabrielle would like to learn. So Poteidaia waited waiting to see what would become of her. 

But years passed and Cadmus’s strange form became old news. He followed Gabrielle to her lessons in the village ignoring the looks and listened to her practice her stories. When asked about them in whispered questions by travelers locals would laugh. Gabrielle’s daemon is fluke, the girl has not on mean bone in her body, they said. 

Years later in a snowy fortress Gabrielle whole world would focus down to a single woman, as she fell to her knees. She would scream, pick up a sword and kill five men just to be by her side.   
Cadmus would kill ten, his large claws and muzzle covered in blood, before Gabrielle surrendered and they thought of using a heavy chain net. 

The Captain of the platoon would tell his soldiers that they were lucky that the woman had surrendered, her bear could have killed a lot more of them.


	3. Chapter 3

It really sucked, Arete mused, to be 3rd wheel. But her and Joxer were used to it and had been since they and their brothers were babes. 

Their father , when he was around, had always favored Jett and their mother had always favored Jace. Not that their mother didn't make an attempt but Joxer had always wanted to follow after his father and while he loved his mother, warlords couldn't. His father had tried to train him once then gave him second rate armor and weapons leaving him mostly alone to train Jett. 

So she knew that he hoped her settled form would be fearsome. If he had a warriors daemon surely his father would accept him. Joxer’s hopes were raised when Jett’s daemon settled as a large sleek dog whose fur was black as ink. Identical siblings usually has similar daemons and sure enough Jace’s daemon settled as a dog as well, though his had long soft fur and was a light brown. 

Good thing he's used to disappointment , she thought, looking at her small paws. She had in fact settled as a dog but she was no warriors daemon. Small children who hadn't learned to tell the difference between animals and daemons thought she was a puppy with her soft fluffy white and gray fur. Probably not helped by the fact that she stood only a foot tall. 

Their father had not been impressed and neither had anyone one else. 

So they had left home, tired of hearing nothing but their brother’s travels. Jett had left after their father had been arrested and Jace had left soon after with their mother’s praises. That was worst thing about all of this nonsense, the whole reason they left home was to stop being the 3rd wheel, to step out of the shadows of their brothers and find their own way. 

And here they were instead ; the biggest 3rd wheel in history and in the shadow of two of greece's most famous people. Who were very much in love with each other. She loved Gabrielle and Cadmus as much as he did but knew there was no chance for them. Yet instead of letting their feelings pass he kept following after them instead of staying with Meg like she had suggested. 

But, she sighed, that was the real problem with her human. He didn't think he was worth her time scared of anyone actually looking up to him, it was a much safer chase when you knew you would never win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Joxer has the misfortune to be both useless comic relief and useless love interest so I don't really like him all that much honestly. But I do kind feel bad for the guy because there's just no way he couldn't tell Xena and Gab were together you know ? 
> 
>  
> 
> Jett's daemon is a doberman   
> Jace's is a Rough Collie   
> Joxer's is a corgi mix


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little talk that Xena and Nilos had after the end of the first episode

“We should leave them here.”   
Xena was too experienced to jump but it was a close call. Gabrielle had fallen asleep as soon as they had finished eating, no doubt tired from chasing after her. She was sleeping almost fully on Cadmus as Xena had no spare sleeping furs or any at all for her to use. She had been finishing tending to her armor lost in thought. And she was so used to Nilos not speaking to her at all that it was still a surprise.   
“We will be the death of her,” Nilos continued.   
“They followed us here didn’t they ? If I take her back she’ll leave that village again, either alone or with some two bit warrior.”   
For a moment Nilos was silent then , “I fear this is going to end badly. I have seen too few good people like them, I don’t want us to be the reason they die.”   
“She just wants to leave her village. Watch she’ll meet someone that doesn’t care about her daemon and send us an invitation to her wedding.”   
“Maybe.” For a moment Nilos was quiet. “A bear isn’t a daemon of a housewife….”   
“We’ve met others that didn’t ‘match’ their daemon.” Xena dismissed the thought.   
“They all tried to pretend they werebigger than themselves but them…” Nilos stared at Cadmus. He certainly didn’t seem threatening at the moment, laying on his back with his arms and legs open wide. His mouth was open showing off his large teeth but his tongue hanging out took away any threat.   
“Mmmm I see your point.”   
Her daemon huffed, “ Mark my words Xena. They are going to get themselves or us killed.”   
“I just have to make sure they live until they decide this life isn’t for them. How long could it take ?”


	5. Chapter 5

It was late, much too late for her to still be awake really but Gabrielle comforted herself that she and Xena wouldn’t be out on the road tomorrow. Instead, they were resting up at the Amazons for a few days. Her lover had gone to bed hours ago after getting an assurance that she was fine. So here she sat outside of their hut as to not wake Xena, lost in thought.

It’s funny, Gabrielle mused, even your closest friends can sometimes not know who you are. She ran her hand through Cadmus’s fur as she stared into the burned down fire. She wasn’t insulted of course. She knew all too well that she and her lover painted a certain picture. She was the ‘innocent’ one so all of their friends had just assumed that the reason it had taken so long for them to act upon their feelings was that Xena had held back for Gabrielle’s sack. That it was only after Xena thought of her as ‘ready’ that she stop holding back her feelings. That Gabrielle must have had little to no involvement in the start of their romantic relationship. After all, what did young girl like Gabrielle know of lust or love?

“You are letting their words affect you too much,” Cadmus rumbled, eyes closed. He had stopped complaining about missing sleep a small time ago and instead had tried to sleep. Without succeeding it seemed. “They didn’t mean anything by it.” He yawned, to most it would have looked fearsome but to her, at the moment it was just shy of aggravating.

“They all think I’m a child,” she huffed. “ That I had no say in it.”   
“ We are only -”   
“I mean I was the one who told my feeling first. That means something, right ?” She continued without stopping for an answer. “ I came to her with it. And she was the one that said that she would need a little time to adjust, that it was a big change, not me !”   
“It’s because they don’t know them like we do,” Cadmus opened his brown eyes, for once he seemed serious. “They only know what Xena shows them, most have never even seen Nilos, and you know Xena has to be half dead before showing emotion in front of most people.”

She sighed, “ I know, I know. I get it. It just bothers me is all.”

“Well, we can’t just go around telling people that Xena was afraid of a young farm girl, can we? Xena has an image, her always knowing what to do and being fearless is a large part of that. Plus,” she had no idea how a bear could smirk but Cadmus pulled it off, “ Nilos would kill us both if you told someone that Xena actually blushed when you first kissed her.”


End file.
